Programs help new grads prepare for Houston colleges

Colleges help students spend summer wiselyPrograms made to ease transition from high school offer a win-win, educators say

Published 5:30 am, Monday, April 28, 2008

The transition from high school to college isn't always smooth — for one thing, no one calls your mom if you don't show up for class.

A growing number of area colleges have summer programs to help. Colleges say the programs are good for the students, boosting grades and, hopefully, graduation rates.

Some offer college credit at a reduced price. Others act as an academic boot camp for students who aren't ready for college-level work.

"When you're in high school, it is very different from college," said Agnes DeFranco, assistant vice president for undergraduate studies at the University of Houston. "Your high school may be really big. However, when you come onto a college campus with 30,000-plus students, you feel kind of lost sometimes."

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UH started The Jump in 2006; early reports show participating students make better grades and are more likely to stay in school, DeFranco said.

At Texas Southern University, where administrators say as many as 70 percent of first-time freshmen aren't ready for college work, a free eight-week program for new freshmen begins June 5.

Students must have been accepted at TSU, but program coordinator Shannon Hilburn Thomas said some may opt to go elsewhere in the fall.

The Summer Academy, as it's called, covers math, reading and writing, along with study skills, financial management and other issues. It is subsidized by state and federal grants.

"Our goal is to bridge the gap between high school and college, to get them ready for college-level work," Thomas said.

The program isn't required — TSU has open enrollment, meaning it accepts any student with a high school diploma or GED — but regents next month will consider admission requirements that could make the program mandatory. (Any new standards are unlikely to take effect before 2009.)

Students who complete the program receive a voucher worth up to $500 for textbooks. Past participants earn better grades and are more likely to stay in school, although Thomas said graduation rates are similar to those for other students.

Prairie View A&M University in Hempstead, the state's other historically black university, offers a similar program called ACCESS, or Academy for Collegiate Excellence and Student Success. The popular seven-week summer residential program includes academic classes but also emphasizes community service. Students have done volunteer work in post-Katrina New Orleans, among other places, and several TSU regents mentioned the program as they discussed TSU's future earlier this month.

Applications are due May 1. Although students don't earn college credit, they will participate in academic classes and several service projects, including one in the Mississippi Delta.

But university spokesman Bryce Kennard said they gain something more intangible, as well. "They get a network of friends. They get prepared for the academic work. They get familiar with the campus," he said. "Of course they're going to do better."

UST's Mendenhall Summer Institute is new this year, allowing students to take English and math classes for as little as $500. (They would normally cost more than $4,000.) Students also must enroll for the fall semester.

The English class stresses writing, said Ravi Srinivas, an environmental science professor who coordinates the summer program. The math class focuses on applying mathematical principals.

The private university doesn't admit many students who require remedial classes, so summer institute students won't take remedial classes, Srinivas said. Instead, he said, "students begin to experience the culture of the institution, to understand what it means to succeed at the university."

The University of Houston expects about 300 students for The Jump this year, up from 150 in 2006.

It costs $725 — about half the regular price for six credit hours. That gives students a head start on earning 30 credit hours their freshman year, making them eligible for a $500 rebate at the beginning of their sophomore year, DeFranco said. The amount grows if students earn at least 30 hours toward their major each year.

UH subsidizes the program because it pays off in student success, DeFranco said. The state is pressuring schools to raise the percentage of students who graduate within six years.

But the university never intended The Jump as strictly an academic program.

"Students (who participate) can say, 'I know someone already. I know where to go to eat, where the library is, where I can hook up my computer,' " DeFranco said.